Feeding and transfer mechanism



W. W. CRILEY FEEDING AND TRANSFER MECHANISM June 7, 1938. I

s Sheets-sheet 1 Filed Sept. 13, 1935 Fig.6

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ATTORNEY J1me 1938' w. w. CRILEY FEEDING AND TRANSFER MECHANISM Filed Sept. 13, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 mil . u INVE.NTOR

" ATTORNEY Patented June 7, 1938 V UNITED STATESv PATENT OFFICE FEEDING AND TRANSFER MECHANISM William W. Criley, Cleveland, Ohio, assignor to The Ajax Manufacturing Company, Euclid, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application September 13, 1933, Serial No. 689,226

17 Claims. (01. 1012) This invention relates to a feeding and transnism may pass between clamping dies of a forgfer mechanism, and in particular such a mechaing or upsetting machine.

nism intended for use in connection with forg- Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of one ing or upsetting machines used principally in the form of feeding and ejector mechanisms which 5 manufacture of bolts, screw spikes, and the like. form a part of my invention. 7 V 5 A general object of the invention is to provide Fig. 5 shows one type of safety mechanism a feeding and transfer mechanism, in connection which may form a part of my invention. I with a heading or forging machine, in which bar Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic representation of gripstock or the like is fed to cut-01f and gripping dies ping dies having four die stages.

10 and simultaneously therewith previously acted Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, raw stock or 10 upon work pieces may be transferred to a subsework pieces are intermittently fed endwise in bequent die station by a transfer mechanism, the tween a movable clamping or gripping die It] and feeding and transfer operations taking place every a stationary clamping or gripping die l2 at the stroke of the forging or heading tool. point l4, whereupon the movable die Ill moves to Another object is to provide a transfer mechathe right engaging the work piece in the die cavity 15 nism having mutuallypivoted, independently conl6 and forcing it against a cutting edge of a trolled, gripping and carrying transfer fingers, stationary cutoff die I8, thereby cutting off the working in timed relation with the action of a piece and carrying it over to a coacting die cavity heading or forging machine and a stock feeding in the stationary die l2. After a first upsetting mechanism, and being adapted to transfer preor stock'gathering operation, the movable die In 20 viously acted upon work pieces from one die stage moves to the left and the work or blank gripping to a subsequent die stage, or stages, simultaneand carrying fingers 20 and 22 take hold of the ously with and independently of the operation of work piece and transfer it sidewise upwardly into the bar or stock feeding mechanism. the position shown at 24, where it is again gripped 25 Another object is to provide an ejector mechaby gripping dies for a finishing or final upsetting 25 nism adapted to eject a finished work piece from operation. Thereafter the blank is ejected from a last die stage simultaneously with the feeding the dies as will presently be described. of a new work piece to an initial die stage, and Considering first the transfer mechanism of also, simultaneously, with the transfer of work Figs. 1 and 2, there is shown a cam supporting pieces between subsequent die stages, each of said shaft 26 having rigidly disposedthereon cams 28, 30

operations being accomplished by separately con 30 and 32. The shaft 26 may be driven through trolled mechanisms acting in timed relation with a sprocket or pulley 34 through beveled gears 36 each other. and 38 as shown. The sprocket or pulley 34 may Another object is to provide a safety device be connected in any suitable manner to the main adapted to cause the work or blank transfer actuating shaft of an upsetting or forging mafingers to be swung up and out of the way of the chine, so as to drive it, and hence the cams, in

gripping dies or heading tool in the event of actimed relation with the movement of a heading cidental clogging or jamming of a work piece in ram 21, or other upsetting tool, associated with the gripping dies. the main actuating shaft.

Among other and more specific objects are the The cam 30 controls the vertical motion of the 40 provision of a feeding and transfer mechanism transfer fingers 2B and'22 through action of a employing reliable and easily manufactured parts, roller 40 in the end of a lever 42, this lever being requiring little or no adjustment from time to pivoted on a shaft 44 and having an extension time, and adapted to operate effectively over an arm 46in the end of which is disposed a pin 48 indefinite period of time. Yet further and more on which finger carrying arms 5!] and 52 are ro- 45 specific objects will be apparent from the followtatably disposed. The finger carrying arm 50 ing description taken in connection with the atsupports the finger 20, while the finger carrying tached drawings, in which arm 52 supports the finger 22.

Fig. 1 is an elevation of one embodiment of a The cam 32 controls the lateral movement of 50 transfer mechanism forming a part of my inventhe finger 20 through a roller 54 in the end of a 50 tion. lever 56, which is also pivoted on the shaft 44 Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same mechanism, and having a downwardly extending arm 58 including a portion of an ejector mechanism. connecting with the finger supporting arm 50 Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic representation of one through a link 60. 55 method in which fingers of the transfer mecha- In a like manner the cam 28 controls the move- 55 a similar acting spring I; and in a like fashion the roller 62 is forced against the cam 28 by a tension spring II, both of these springs being connected to their respective downwardly extending arms 58 through similar pins I2.

, The entire cam and lever mechanism may be assembled and supported in any'suitable housing,

such as that indicated at I4,and may be secured to any convenient part of an upsetting or forging machine 16 as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. Referring now toFig. 4, rod or bar stock I8 may be fed tothe clamping or gripper dies I0 and I2 by suitable rollers 80,- which may be actuated in any suitable'manner, such for example as that shown and described in the patent issued to F. H. Blakeslee, No. 1,260,305. The stock is preferably of rod or bar longer than required to form a work blank and preferably heated just prior to feeding to the clamping or gripper dies.

The stock is first fed endwise through the cut-off die l8 to'one side of the normally held upsetting position and cut off to form work pieces by the closing movement of the movable die I0, as heretofore described. It is to be noted that the stock is intermittently fed to acut-oif station remote from the first upsetting station, and is carried to the latter station by the moving die. 'The faces of the cams '28, 30'and 32 are adapted to cause the fingers 20 and 22 to grip the work piece after the clamping or gripper dies have closed upon it in its initial or lowermost position, as shown in Fig. 1. Following the opening of the dies after the first upsetting or stock'gathering operation, the cams actuate thejgripping and carrying fingers 20 and 22 to cause the work piece to be moved sidewise to the left and upwardly and thence to the right into the next adjacent die cavity. Upon the closing of the dies the cams open the'fingers and cause them'to move downwardly to again grip the newly fed blank and repeat the operation just described. A

After the completion of the final or last upsetting or forging operation, the finished article is ejected endwise from the dies by action of the ejector pin 82(Fig. 4), which is secured to a holding pin 84 rigid withthe end of a lever arm 86 secured to a shaft '88, which in turn is oscillatedthrough a lever arm 90 by a rod 92. The rod 92 may beactuated in any manner in timed relation withthe rotation of the main shaft of the forging or upsetting machine, asby a cam, and it p is not deemed necessary to illustrate this. I g

The action of the feeding, transfer, and eject ing mechanisms are such that their operations upon work pieces may be simultaneous, that is, a new'work piece maybe fed to the dies, simultaneously, with the transfer of a work piece between die stages and theejectionof a finished work piece from the last die stage. Thus all three operations may take place during one stroke of the heading tool of an upsetting machine. i H f;

However, the feeding mechanism may be timed to feed stock to the diesevery other stroke of the heading tool; for example, stock may be fed to the lower die of two high cavity dies and the,

work piece transferred to the upper die and completely finished before fresh stock is again fed to the lower die. By such intermittent feeding it is possible to reverse the order and feedto the top die and then transfer to the lower die for the finishing operation, as the transfer fingers will then not interfere with the feeding; If more than two high cavities are used the feeding to the upper die would of course be every third, fourth, etic., stroke of the heading tool, corresponding tothe number of die cavities used. The arrangement is therefore not to be limited tothe transfer of blanks or work pieces in one direction.

In Fig. 3 is illustrated one method in which the fingers 20 and 22 may operate to grip a work piece held in the dies. As there shown the movable die II] and the stationary die I2 have complementary recesses 94 and 95 in their opposing adjacent faces, large enough to accommodate entry of the fingers 20 and 22in their clos'edposition. It is' to be understood that the action of the transfer mechanism is not to be limited to this specific arrangement but that the fingers 20 and 22 may be so arranged as to grip the blank at any point along its shank.

In Fig. is shown a mechanism for causing the fingers 20 and 22 to swing up and out of the way of the gripping or clamping dies in case of clogging or jamming of a blank or work piece out of position in between the dies.

This mechanism 3 which, is more fully described in the patent to J. 5

R. Blakeslee, No. 648,382, comprises a rod member I00 suitably connected to the actuating ele-' ments associated with the moving die I0, so that upon undue resistance to the movement of this die, as during clogging or jamming of a blank between it and the stationary die, pressure is ex-' erted on this rod to force the pin I02 between the rollers I03, causing them to separate against the tension of the springs I04. One of the rollers I03 may have a pin I06 associated therewith adapted to actuate the arm I08 of the valve mechanism IIO, to cause registration of the port II 2 with the pipe line II4. This may connect' this latter line with an air supply (not shown), .and thereby deliver air under pressure to a cylinder H! (see Fig. 1) on the cam and lever housing. The air may actuate a piston H8 in the cylinder to cause the auxiliary lever 68 to move to theleft, thereby swinging the fingers 20 and 22 upwardly and clear of the clampingdies.

While I have shown the transfer mechanism as l adapted to transfer a blank from a roughing die stage to a finishing die stage, it is to be understood that the fingers may be provided with additional notches so as to simultaneously transfer a plurality of blanks from one diestage to another, such for example as between the die stages illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 6, in which is shown a movable die I20 and stationary die I22 having four die stages I23.

The ejector mechanism described has been posed cooperating recesses therein. which con ditional die cavity of somewhat larger diameter than the other die cavities so as not to grip the blank tightly, and from which the blanks may be pushed by the ejector while the dies are in their closed position.

It will be obvious that other and further detailed modifications may be made in this in vention without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims, and such is intended to be included therein.

I claim:

1. The combination with relatively movable upsetting dies having a plurality of die stages, of feeding means adapted to feed bar or rod stock endwise to said dies when in their open position, and transfer fingers adapted to grip said stock when said upsetting dies are in their fully closed position and to transfer said stock sidewise from one to another of said die stages when saiddies are in their open position.

2. The combination with relatively movable upsetting dies having a plurality of die stages and relatively movable gripping dies, of feeding means adapted to feed bar or rod stock to said dies, means whereby said stock is cut off to form work pieces, and transfer fingers adapted to extend within the limits of the gripping dies and to grip a work piece when said upsetting dies and gripping dies are in their fully closed position concurrently and to transfer said work piece from one to another of said die stages when all of said dies are in their open positionf 3'. 'The combination with a pair of gripping dies having complementary recesses therein which constitute blank receiving recesses and having other complementary recesses therein disposed substantially at right angles to the blank receiving recesses, of a blank gripping and carrying fingers normally disposed in said last named recesses, and a safety mechanism for causing removal of said fingers from said recesses on the occurrence of an abnormality in the operation of said dies. v I 4. The combination with relatively movable upsetting dies having a plurality 'of die stages, of means for intermittentlyfeeding bar or rod stock to said dies, means whereby said'sto'ck is cut off to form work pieces, and transfer fingers adapted to gripa work piece when said upsetting diesare intheir fully closed position and totransfer said work piece from one to another of said die stages when said dies are in their open position. A

5. The combination with relatively movable upsetting dies having a plurality of work stages, the dies being movable between open and closed positions, of feeding means adapted to feed rod or bar stock to a point remote from said stages, means whereby the stockis cut off to form work pieces, one of said dies being adapted to transfer said work pieces from said remom point to one of said stages, and transfer fingers adapted to grip said stock when the'upsetting dies are in their maximum upsetting'position and to transfor said stock to another of said die stages when said upsetting dies are in their open position.

6. The combination with gripping dies having a plurality of work stations, of transfer fingers adapted to pass in between said dies from one side thereof, a feeding mechanism adapted to feed work pieces to one of said work stations remote from said sida and means actuating said fingers to transfer said work pieces between said stations toward said side.

'7. The combination with relatively movable dies having a plurality of complementary opstitute blank receiving recesses, means for feeding bar or rod stock to one of the blank receiving recesses, means whereby the stock is cut off to form work blanks, transfer fingers supported at a point remote from the recess to which the work blanks are fed, said fingers being movable between spaced points and being adapted to transfer work blanks from one recess to another when the dies are in the open position, the fingers being movable relative to said work blanks when the dies are in the closed position, portions of the fingers adjacent the ends thereof being adapted to grip a blank in the recess to which the blanks are fed when the fingers are at one of said spaced points, said portions of the fingers being adapted to'grip a blank in a recess adjacent to the recess to which the blanks are fed when the fingers are moved to the other of said spaced points.

8. The combination with relatively movable dies having a plurality of complementary opposed cooperating recesses therein which constitute blank receiving recesses, means for feeding bar or rod stock to one of the blank receiving recesses, means whereby the stock is cut off to form work blanks, transfer fingers supported at a point remote from the recess to which the work blanks are fed, said fingers being movable between spaced points and being adapted to transfer work blanks from one recess 'to another when the dies are in the open position, the fingers being movable relative to said work blanks when the dies are in the closed position, portions of the fingers adjacent the ends thereof being adapted to grip a blank in the recess to which the blanks are fed when the fingers are at one of said spaced points, said portions of the fingers being adapted to grip a blank in a recess adjacent to the recess to which the blanks are fed when the fingers are moved to the other of said spaced points, the transfer fingers being substantially at said last named position when work blank material is fed to the dies.

- 9(The combination with relatively movable dies having a plurality of complementary opposed cooperating recesses therein which, constitute blank receiving recesses, means for feeding bar or rod stock to one of the blank receiving recesses, means whereby the stock is cut off to form work blanks when the dies are moved from the open to the closed position, transfer fingers supported at a point remote from the recess to which the work blanks are fed, said fingers being movable between spaced points and, being adapted to transfer work blanks from one. recess to. another when the dies are in the open position, the fingers being movable relative to said work blanks when the dies are in the closed position, portions of the fingers adjacent the ends thereof being adapted to grip a blank in the recess to whichthe blanks are fed when the fingers are at one of said spaced points, said portions of the fingers being adapted to grip a blank in a recess adjacent to the recess to which the blanks are fed when the fingers are moved to the other of said spaced points.

10. The combination with relatively movable dies having a plurality of complementary opposed cooperating recesses. therein which constitute blank receiving recesses, feeding means for feeding bar or rods'tock to a point spaced from said blankreceiving recesses, meanswhereby the-stock is cut off to form work blanks, means to transfer work blanks from said spaced point to one of the blank receiving recesses, transfer fingers supported ata point remote from the recess to which the blanks are transferred from the cutoff means, the transfer fingers being movable between'spaced points and being adapted to transfer work blanks from one recess to another, portions of the fingers adjacent the ends thereof being adapted to grip a blank in the recess to which the blanks are fed when the fingers are at one of said, spaced points, said portions of the fingers being adapted to grip a blank in an adjacent recess when the fingers are at the other of said spaced points.

11. The combination with relatively movable dies having a plurality of complementary opposed cooperating recesses therein which constitute blankreceiving recesses, feeding'means for feeding bar or rod stock to a point spaced from said blank receiving recesses, means whereby the stock is cut off to'form' work blanks, one of said dies being adapted to receive a cut off portion of said stock and transfer it to one of said blank receiving recesses, transfer fingers supported at a point remote from the recess to which the blanks are transferred from the cut off means, the transfer fingers being movable between spaced points and being adapted to transfer work blanks from one recess to another, portions of the fingers adjacent the ends thereofbeing adapted to grip a blank in the recess to which the blanks are fed 3 when the fingers are at one of said spaced points,

from said one of the die stages to another, and

operative in the path of the dies, of mechanism operative to move the fingers clear of the dies consequent upon the occurrence of an abnormality in the operation of the dies.

13. The combination with a clamping die hav: ing a plurality of die stages and cooperating heading tools for said stages, said clamping die and said heading tools being relatively movable toward and away fromeach other to closed and open position, respectively, and said clamping die having portions movable toward and away from each other, means for feeding bar or rod stock to one stage of the clamping die, transfer fingers operative between the portions of the clamping die to grip and transfer said blanks from said one of the die stages to another, of mechanism operative to move the fingers clear from the portions of the clamping die consequent upon occurrence of an abnormality in the operation of the clamping die. 7

14. In a forging machine, a relatively movabl heading tool and die, said die beingaclamping die said fingers in said auxiliary recesses for trans- 7 ferring the gripped blank by the fingers from one of said forming recesses to another when the separable die portions are in open position.

15. In a forging machine, a movable heading tool, a clamping die, said clamping die comprising relatively separable portions having cavities in their adjacent faces defining blank forming blank in a forming recess and transferring said blank to another forming recess, means operativelyassociated with said fingers for effecting gripping engagement thereof with said blank when theclamping die portions are in closed position and for moving the fingers parallel to the plane of the forming recesses While concurrently constraining said fingers to gripping relation when the die portions are relatively separated for transferring the blank to a different one of said forming recesses.

16. In a forging machine, a movable heading tool, a clamping die, said clamping die comprising relatively separable portions having cavities in their adjacent faces defining blank forming recesses when the portions are together, auxiliary recesses in the said adjacent faces of said die portions and opening into the formingv recesses at opposite sides thereof, cooperating transfer fingers movable along the auxiliaryrecesses and movable relatively toward and away from each other transversely of the auxiliary recesses for gripping a blank in a forming recess and transferring said blank to another forming recess, each of said forming recesses having a forming portion, and said auxiliary recesses being spaced from said forming portions, means operatively associated with said fingers for effecting gripping engagement thereof with the blank and for moving the fingers when the die portions are relatively separated for transferring the gripped blank to a different one of said forming recesses. I 7

1'7. In a forging machine, a movable heading tool, a clamping die, said clamping die comprising relatively separable portions having cawties in their'adjacent faces defining blank forming recesses when the portions are together, auxiliary recesses in the said adjacent faces of said die portions and opening into the forming recesses at opposite sides thereof, cooperating transfer fingers inthe auxiliary recesses and movablefor gripping a blank in a forming recess and transferring said blank to another forming recess, means operatively associated with said fingers for effecting gripping engagement thereof with the blank when the separable clamping die portions are in closed position and for moving the fingers when the die portions are relatively separated for transferring the blank to a different one of said forming recesses, and said forming recesses having forming portions, respectively, and said auxiliary recesses being spaced beyond said forming portions in a direction away from the cooperating heading tool.

WILLIAM W. CRILEY. 

